SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Welcome to my comic book review blog – thanks for tuning in. Today is Friday, October 10th, 2008.

Today’s Issue:
Amazing Spider-Man #558. Published by Marvel in May, 2008, this is the first Brand New Day story to be contained within a single issue. This particular issue was written by Bob Gale (Back To The Future, Batman) with pencils by Barry Kitson (Legion of Super-Heroes, The Order).

Premise:
This book spends a few pages on each of the mini-stories happening in Brand New Day. Peter is moving out of Aunt May’s house. J. Jonah Jameson is recovering from his heart attack. Harry Osborn’s girlfriend’s dad (William Hollister) is running for Mayor. Spidey fights Menace. Spidey fights Freak.

The Awesome Parts:
One thing I noticed in this issue was the exceptional use of thought bubbles. I’m pretty sure Brand New Day has been using them all along – but for some reason they stood out at me during this issue. I’ve always been a fan of the thought bubble – getting inside characters’ heads without cheesy narration is one of the advantages comic books have over other mediums (such as TV or movies.) Not enough books take advantage of this classic comic convention. I felt that Jonah’s part in this story was particularly heartwarming. There was a great scene between Peter and Aunt May: May wants Peter to know that she supports and he’ll always have a place in her home. Peter doesn’t want May to feel like he’s abandoning her. But secretly, they’re both incredibly happy that he’s moving out – and we know this because of thought balloons. In the last page, we see that something nefarious (or at least peculiar) is going on at Oscorp – the first hint we’ve gotten that Harry might be up to some of his same old shenanigans. [We know he must be up to SOMETHING - or else they wouldn’t have bothered bringing him back from the dead. But this is the first implicit clue about what that might be.]

The Less-Than-Awesome Parts:
In general this issue was … odd. It read like a series of vignettes. And after four three-issue stories, I went into it assuming this would be a three-parter, too. When Spidey actually defeated Freak I was like, “Wait… it’s over already?” I don’t know why they suddenly changed formats. The issue wasn’t bad – and as I mentioned above there were some great scenes – but overall I think they tried to cram too much into a single issue. Also, I don’t think this issue can stand alone as a story. Obviously, the entire Brand New Day narrative works best if you’ve read every issue – but so far each of the individual arcs could stand alone as individual stories. But this issue – taken out of context – doesn’t really tell a contained story. I was also upset that they took all this time to further all of the plots introduced in Brand New Day – and they STILL haven’t furthered the Spider-Tracer serial killings AT ALL!

My Recommendation:
Obviously if you’re reading Brand New Day in its entirety, you’ll want to pick up this issue. Otherwise, it’s a skipper. There was nothing in here worth picking up outside the context of the Brand New Day narrative.

That’s it for today. As always – thanks for reading – see you next time.
-Searnold

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